A march is taking place in London today [Saturday] in opposition to the
DUP and its policies.

Organised by a number of women’s activist groups, the rally is
highlighting opposition to a proposed deal between the Conservative
Party and the DUP.

Both the DUP and the Tories are continuing to negotiate a deal that
would see Theresa May’s minority government propped up by Arlene
Foster’s party.

But after nearly two weeks of negotiations, the mooted ‘confidence and
supply’ agreement has not been finalised.

Most of the new attention on the DUP in Britain has focused on the
party’s homophobia and religious fundementalism, rather that its history
of sectarian intransigence in the north of Ireland or its links to
loyalist paramilitary death squads.

Specifically, the rally has been organised in protest against the
unionist’s party’s opposition to same-sex marriage.

Those taking part in the rally assembled at Parliament Square before
marching to Whitehall and then gathering outside Downing Street.

Organisers said the event was a “march against the DUP”.

“We are marching in support of the right to access abortion in NI and
against a Tory working agreement with no democratic mandate with a
political group known to promote policy which restricts the rights of
women and LGBT people and is known for links to far right politics,”
said organisers.

Those attending the march have been asking to wear right red to
highlight a number of issues including “the decision to gamble the
rights, health and safety of LGBT+ people” and for “the blood shed
before reaching an NI peace deal in protest at the decision to disregard
this for power”.

Last week the Scottish government published a letter it received from
the DUP leader Foster about its laws surrounding gay marriage. The
correspondence, signed by Arlene Foster, was sent in early September
2015 when she was finance minister in the Stormont executive.

It follows calls to publish the letter when its existence emerged after
the Westminster election results sparked fresh criticism of the DUP’s
opposition to gay marriage.

Former Scottish minister Marco Biagi had revealed Mrs Foster wrote to
him asking to prevent same-sex marriage access for Irish couples, which
the DUP has vetoed at the Stormont Assembly.

Mrs Foster had denied sending the letter.

“I’m not quite sure what he was referring to but it certainly wasn’t a
letter from me and I have no recollection of a letter from me,” she
said.

In her letter to Mr Biagi, Mrs Foster said she was “concerned” about
Scottish government proposals and wanted to provide “legal certainty” by
restricting the definition of civil partnership which qualified as
same-sex marriage “so as to exclude civil partnerships which were
entered into in Northern Ireland”.

The Green Party has also criticised Democratic Unionist Party MPs over
their links to the Caleb Foundation, a Christian fundamentalist
creationist pressure group. Its lobbying led the National Trust to
controversially include a ‘younger Earth’ version of the origins of the
Giant’s Causeway at its visitor centre. The Caleb Foundation has also
formally objected to museums depicting evolution as an accepted fact.

The DUP has also opposed climate change targets, with former Stormont
‘Environment Minister’ Sammy Wilson placing a ban on government TV and
radio adverts that were encouraging people to cut their carbon
emissions. Wilson described the ads as insidious green propaganda.

Green Party co-leader Caroline Lucas calling them ‘dinosaurs’ in the
Westminster parliament on Wednesday. She later apologised for ‘any
offence caused to prehistoric creatures’.

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